Maputo, Mozambique

We started our day at around 7:00 AM this morning since the original schedule called for us to dock in Maputo, Mozambique at 12:00 Noon. We first had breakfast in the Lido Café and enjoyed it. We really have enjoyed all of the fruit that has been brought on board the ship from South Africa. So, in addition to cereal for Anne Marie and Oatmeal for Keith, each of us also enjoyed the grapefruit and Keith also enjoyed the wonderful strawberries, which tasted great. Some of the fruit that we have had is by far the best we have ever tasted. After our breakfast we worked out in the Fitness Center. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine for one hour and then we each spent some time on the weight lifting machines. While we were in the Fitness Center the Captain gave his regular 9:00 AM update from the bridge and we learned that the ship would not arrive in Maputo until around 2:00 PM. We believe the delay is two-fold. Last evening, those passengers who first boarded the ship in Cape Town and those passengers who rejoined the ship in Durban from Safari needed to bring their passports to the local authorities on board the ship. This needed to be done before we sailed at our scheduled time of 6:00 PM. Unfortunately, there were a few passengers who ignored this request until their names were repeatedly read over the speaker by the front desk so we did not leave until around 6:45 PM. In addition, even though we did not seem to feel it, some of our fellow passengers told us that the seas were very rough for a few hours last night. Those who told us this had gone to the Palm Court to dance and this venue is located on the top deck at the stern (forward position) of the ship, which tends to be the most affected when in rough seas. They had to stop dancing after awhile. We spoke with the captain after we arrived in port, and he did confirm these as the two major reasons for he delay.

As we mentioned, this is the first time any Crystal ship has visited Maputo. It is a developing port and at this time only had one shore excursion that met Crystal’s rigid safety guidelines which is an overview of the city. We had decided to pass on this tour and due to safety reasons did not go into town on our own. So, we just got off the ship for a little while at the pier.

The Portuguese first planted their flag here in 1498. This area remained a slave-trading center until the mid-1800s. Today, the population of this country reflects the indigenous peoples who called this nation their home before it was first settled by the Europeans. They comprise 99% of the total population of this country. Maputo is the capital of Mozambique. This country won its independence from Portugal in 1975 after a nasty war. This country has gone through a good deal of conflict after winning its independence including a civil war and a disastrous famine, which accounted for the deaths of one million people.

Today, the country is trying to build its economy primarily in the areas of tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing of various items from shoes to furniture. Hopefully, in time, this country will grow economically along with improved standards of living for its people.

At Noon we went to the main dining room for lunch and we had a wonderful salad entrée. This is one that we had not had before and we can’t say enough about the quality of all of the food served in the dining room. This salad was outstanding as are all of the other ones that we order each day for lunch.

While we waited for the ship after lunch to dock we sat out near the pool area under some shade. The Lido Deck Stewards came over and moved two chairs for us into a very nice area. These folks are so very nice to us and to the other passenger’s and always know our names and likes. They are so funny as they always help us with breakfast. Since we arrive up at the Lido Café very early sometimes some items are not yet available the first thing such as bananas.. But, since they know that we like bananas they always have two for us in the back. And, they know that one of us takes caffeinated coffee while the other takes the first cup as caffeinated coffee and they know that Anne Marie likes a certain type of coffee that they make in the back for her in a special machine. So, they were kidding around with us this afternoon about getting us two bananas along with one regular and one decaffeinated coffee. We can’t say enough about how wonderful their work ethic is, and how committed they are to make each persons experience as wonderful as possible. We go out of our way to make sure we learn their names as soon as possible as we know how much they appreciate that. They treat us with kindness and we are always sure to do likewise for them.

A little while after the local authorities cleared the ship we got off the ship and took a complimentary shuttle from the dock to the downtown square. We saw the Railway Station (pictured on the Blog), which was built in the early 1900’s. It was designed by the maker of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France; M. Eiffel. It was renovated in recent years and also has some old steam engines inside.

After a short stay we took the shuttle back to the ship where we then walked for a while on the promenade deck of the ship. As we have mentioned, the promenade deck is the best on any ship we have ever sailed on as it has a full wrap-around deck which provides an excellent venue for taking long walks.

We went to dinner in the Main Dining Room and all of our tablemates were at dinner (three couples including us) for the first time this segment since one of the couples returned to the ship late yesterday from Safari. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner.

This evening we will be going to the movie theatre to see the movie Bobby.

Keith & Anne Marie

Durban, South Africa

We awoke early this morning a few hours before we were to arrive in Durban, South Africa and it was pouring down rain. We went up to the Lido Café to have breakfast and there were just a few people eating breakfast at that hour. We had a nice quiet breakfast and then we went over to the Fitness Center. We exercised for one hour with Anne Marie working out on the treadmill and Keith working out on the elliptical machine. The fitness center was not very crowded either and while we were exercising it was still raining very hard.

We went back to our room to get ready for our shore excursion. The good news is that about 45 minutes before we docked in Durban the rain stopped and we could see that the skies were clearing. By the time we began our tour it was partly sunny which was great news for our tour.

The ship was cleared by the local authorities at around 9:00 AM and we walked off the ship at around 9:15 AM to board our tour bus.

Our original plan was to walk around the town but due to the incidence of crime (more on that later) we recently added a shore excursion, which was called the valley of a Thousand Hills. Initially, as we drove through the downtown area we were given an overview of Durban. Clearly, there are some very nice areas in Durban but at the same time there are many poor areas as well. Many folks are moving out of Durban due to the high crime rate. After making our way through the downtown area we then proceeded another 45 minutes towards the area of our shore excursion. We drove through many new areas where there is strong development and we saw very beautiful countryside with beautiful mountains and valleys many lined with pretty trees and other pretty landscape. Some of the landscape had bushes and trees with very colorful flowers.

Finally, we arrived at the area for the excursion where we visited a kraal village and where we saw Zulu dancers. We also walked through a nice park like setting, which included lots of crocodile, some turtles and a variety of snakes. Our guide did a wonderful job of providing a good deal of information about the crocodiles, turtles and snakes. And, believe it or not one of the crocodiles that we saw was actually 102 years old or should we say 102 years young ☺ since their lifespan can reach 125 or more years. Wow!!

While we have seen some beautiful areas in South Africa from Cape Town to Durban this country is facing some very challenging issues that could have a dramatic affect on its future. Essentially, the country is moving towards a two class rather than a three class for its people; the rich and the poor with the middle class being eliminated overtime. Unemployment is estimated at approximately 40%. While Cape Town was very safe, Durban is not as safe as it has significant crime. And for desperate people who have nothing to lose there is no risk for them to commit various acts of crime. At the same time there are quite a few rich people and they continue to grow as well and we could see the growth in terms of significant construction activity in the suburbs. On top of all of this is the issue of segregation, which is common throughout the country. While conditions are clearly worse in Durban than in Cape Town things could get far worse before they get better and one wonders if things will get violent. There appears to be so much potential for the people of this country but it seems that some radical steps need to be taken to address the distribution of wealth in this country and to address issues such as the high unemployment, crime and the whole issue of segregation. We have met so many nice people and hope that things will work out for them. But, something tells us that there is more downside risk right now.

By the time we returned from the ship the main dining room had already closed so we each had a nice entrée salad in the Lido Café.

This afternoon we took time to reflect on what we have experienced over the past few days and we also reminded ourselves as to how fortunate we are to be able to take a World Cruise. There are so many people around the world who face significant challenges each and every day that many of us take for granted such as where they will sleep that evening, how they will feed their families, where they will find work, etc., that we are so very fortunate to not be in this situation. Our thoughts and prayers go out to these people.

We also ran some errands this afternoon before it was time for dinner. This evening we dined by ourselves at Silk Road, the Japanese Specialty Restaurant. We each had a wonderful meal. We had an assortment of sushi, mushroom salad, and for our main entrée we each had cod. We find the food and service in Silk Road to be outstanding. Since we have dined there often, from time to time we try new items such as certain sushi which are not on the menu and there have been times that certain one time items have been sent out for us to try by the chef. This restaurant also has a sushi bar where in addition to ordering sushi one can also order the entire meal. One evening we plan to try this so that we can watch the sushi chefs prepare the sushi. It is clearly a culinary art.

After dinner, we went to the Crystal Cinema to watch a movie in the theatre.

This evening we cruise to Maputo, Mozambique. This is a maiden port of call for Crystal Cruises as its ships have never sailed here before this port is just beginning to attract tourists. As such, there is only one shore excursion planned for this port of call and we decided to pass on that. After tomorrow, we will have three more days at sea.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Durban Day 1

Today, we have a full day at sea as we cruise towards Durban, South Africa. The waves were fairly choppy last evening and also they have been very choppy today so the boat rocked more today than at anytime since we boarded the ship in Miami, Florida. With that said, we did quite well and did not feel sea sick.

We awoke this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. There were very few passengers in the café while we had our breakfast. The Lido Stewards who assisted us were mainly those who helped us in the café on the first segment of the World Cruise plus a few personnel who boarded the ship since the first segment. One of the stewards who helped us was Ray who was so very helpful during the first segment of the World Cruise and who we have seen in other venues throughout the cruise. We enjoyed our breakfast and then we went over to the Fitness Center for our daily workout. Anne Marie worked out on the treadmill and Keith worked out on the elliptical machine. While Anne Marie continued on the treadmill, Keith worked out on some of the weight machines. It was a little busier than normal but we had no problem utilizing the machines.

Afterwards we went back to the Lido Café so that Anne Marie could have a cup of coffee. We thought that we would sit there for a while to talk with fellow passengers and the Lido Staff. By that time there were quite a few more passengers having breakfast. We saw Anthony who also works in Silk Road behind the buffet counter and spoke with him. He has been our waiter in Silk Road several times that we have dined there. We spoke with Willie who is also the headwaiter in Silk Road. We spoke with Nat who we have known from other sailings and who has assisted us throughout the cruise on the Lido Deck. Nat (pronounced Nate) always has the friendliest smile and takes good care of us. We have posted a picture showing Jun (sounds like June) on the left side and Ross on the right side. They were assigned to the Lido Cafe on the last segment of the World Cruise nad were outstanding. We also saw our senior waiter from the Dining Room (Meika) and our waiter from the Dining Room (Andrew) and also chatted with them for a while. They are both wonderful and they have done much to make the dining room experience wonderful for us.

We have been trying to keep up with the news of the day while we are on this adventure. Each day we get to summaries of news sent to our stateroom. One is a summary from the New York Times and the other is called the New York Times Digest. Each summary is about eight pages long. Also, from time to time we catch up with some news from the television. Keith listened to some news while working out on the elliptical machine this morning. We do miss many of the news shows that we get from home along with reading full editions of newspapers while we are home but that will all have to wait for now.

Later in the morning Anne Marie went by the needlepoint area to pick up her complimentary needlepoint kit. Later in the morning, we went over to Team Trivia for the first round of this new segment of the World Cruise. The questions were quite challenging. Afterwards, we went over to the Asian Buffet just to say hello to a few of the Lido Stewards and then afterwards we went to the dining room. We each enjoyed another wonderful salad entrée.

After lunch, we walked around for a little while and we ran into our Cruise Director, Gary Hunter, who we spoke with for awhile. He is an outstanding Cruise Director.

Overall, the ship has been on the quiet side. We understand there are approximately 80 passengers on a variety of the Safari Tours and when they are back there will be around 800 passengers on the ship. This is probably an optimal level of passenger’s as it provides a nice ratio between passengers and crew.

In the early evening we attended the Captain’s Formal Welcome Reception. This was our forth-welcome reception of the world cruise and as usual we enjoyed the reception. It provides a nice time to sit and talk with fellow passenger’s, to listen and dance to the Crystal band, and to listen to the Captain of the Crystal Serenity, Captain Otto.

After this reception we had a wonderful dinner in the main dining room. We ate with the couple that joined the ship in Cape Town. We thoroughly enjoyed the food, service and the conversation.

Tomorrow morning we arrive in Durban, South Africa. They are forecasting a partly cloudy day with some sunshine. As long as it does not rain while we are on tour we will be happy.

Keith & Anne Marie

Cape Town Day 3

We slept in this morning. Well, we woke up at 7:00 AM. Some might not think of that as sleeping in but for us it was. ☺ We went to breakfast in the dining room for the very first time since we boarded the cruise ship in Miami. We had a wonderful breakfast. Keith had Blintzes and Anne Marie had eggs. We each had some fruit as well. In terms of the fruit, all of the fruit that we have tasted since the ship reached Cape Town has been wonderful. In fact, the red grapes that we tried are the best we’ve ever had and they have other wonderful fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapefruit, just to name a few.

After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center and then we got ready to go ashore. We saw another couple who we have enjoyed talking with throughout the cruise who we first met at the World Cruise Gala Dinner as they were seated with us that night and we walked with both of them around the areas that is right adjacent to the Pier. They had been on part of the World Cruise last year and they got off at Cape Town so they showed us the Hotel that they stayed at. It was a little overcast today with a few rain showers but we were very prepared with these lightweight rain jackets that are quite long. They work out well and easily fold-up to fit in our backpack.

After returning to the ship we went to the dining room to have lunch. We each had a salad entrée. After lunch, we walked on the Promenade Deck for about an hour.

We departed Cape Town at about 3:00 PM and had a very nice sail away. We had beautiful views of the area on our sail away including Cable Mountain, which is one of the photographs we have posted to the Blog. We have also updated the pictures on our web site from our past few days in Cape Town.

This afternoon there was a party on the ship to celebrate Purim. The Rabbi on board the ship lead a brief service and following the service there was a Purim party including hamantashen and other special refreshments.

We are now cruising around the southern tip of Africa on our way toward the east coast of Africa. Our next stop will be on Tuesday morning in Durban, South Africa.

This evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the main dining room. We had ordered swordfish with the headwaiter for this evening and it was wonderful. We met the new couple who has joined our table for this segment of the cruise and we had a very nice conversation with them.

Keith & Anne Marie

Cape Town, South Africa Day 2

We woke up early again this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. During breakfast we made arrangements with another couple who is on the World Cruise to go together over to the Waterfront Shopping Area. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center and then came back to the room to change before we went ashore.

We met up with the other couple right before 9:00 AM and took the first shuttle bus over to the shopping area. We walked with the other couple for a little while and then eventually we went our own separate ways as we each needed to look for some specific items. Some of thee stores are outside while others are located in an enclosed mall. Eventually, it started to rain so we went into the mall. We picked up the items that we were interested in and then we headed back to the ship at around 12:00 Noon to get ready for lunch.

Today is a busy day for the crew as in the morning those passenger’s whose cruise concluded in Cape Town disembarked the ship, while new passenger’s boarded the ship for the next segment of the World Cruise. This is also a time when some of the staff, such as those who are the Lido Deck Stewards rotate to various areas on the Lido Deck. For example, those stewards who have been assisting us in the Lido Café will rotate to the Pool area. This gives them a change in venue and in hours as those who work the Lido Café need to be up very early in the morning while some who work in another area do not need to be up as early. There are three teams of Lido Deck Stewards. Since this is the forth segment of the World Cruise those who will assist us in the Lido Café are the same personnel who assisted us during the first segment. They are all wonderful people so we know we will continue to be very pleased with the level of service.

After lunch with our rain jackets with us we went back outside as we had one or two items left to get at the nearby market. The area was extremely crowded and likely given the rain many tourists and those from the area decided to shop today to avoid the rain. We wanted to point out that all of the store personnel were extremely helpful and a pleasure to talk with.

We ended up finding what we needed at the waterfront area and then walked for a while and then came back to the ship at around 3:00 PM. While we were walking around the waterfront we saw lots of passenger’s from the ship. Given that it was still raining many of them decided to do shopping today as we were doing. We were so very fortunate to have had perfect weather all day yesterday, which greatly added to our tour.

When we arrived back at the ship, we saw that many passengers were still embarking the ship. We do not leave until tomorrow afternoon at around 3:P00 PM so there is no rush for the passenger’s to arrive.

After we returned to the ship we went over to the shore excursion desk to check on one item and we also stopped by a special room that is set up the first day of embarkation to see the Restaurant Matre d’ Josef Widmar. Josef is just back from vacation and we first met him in October of 2005 so we wanted to say hello to him and to ask him one or two other questions. For this segment of the cruise, we will dine at the same table as we had during the last segment of the cruise and with one of the couples who we dined with most recently. In addition, one new couple that has just boarded the ship in Cape Town will join us.

We had a wonderful dinner in the main dining room this evening. We were the only two at the table this evening as one of the couples decided to eat in Cape Town this evening and the couple who just joined the ship did not make it to dinner. So, we had a great dinner all by ourselves. The food and service was excellent as it always is.

Tomorrow’s weather in Cape Town is supposed to be cooler but no rain is forecast.

Keith & Anne Marie

Capetown Day 1

Today, we arrived at Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town is a beautiful city. We will be here all day today and tomorrow, until we depart this lovely city on Sunday afternoon.

We woke up fairly early this morning and had breakfast in the Lido Café. There were more passengers up there than usual since many passengers have tours, with many of the tours beginning in the morning. After breakfast, we worked out in the Fitness Center. Anne Marie worked out on the Treadmill while Keith worked out on the Elliptical Machine.

About an hour after we finished our workout, our ship docked in Cape Town. As soon as we cleared the local authorities, we disembarked the ship and walked over to the waterfront area. The waterfront area is beautiful. It contains hundreds of store, restaurants and many other areas such as an aquarium. We strolled around the area and plan to return tomorrow.

We went back to the ship at noon so that we could eat lunch back on the ship before it was time to go to our afternoon tour.

We took a tour in the afternoon called the Stellenbosch Sjjourn. There were only seventeen passengers on our tour. Cape Town is beautiful and in many ways reminds us ofSan Francisco, one of our favorite cities in the United States. After leaving Cape Horn, we drove about forty-five minutes to Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is located in the heart of the wine route. This town is a beautiful university town and is also the historic cradle of Afrikaans culture. We visited the Stellenbosch Museum where we toured homes dating back to the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Afterwards, we were given about one hour to walk around the town on our own. We ended up running into the tour guide about fifteen minutes later and she took us around the town to some of her favorite places. Our next stop was a wine farm where we would have the opportunity to learn about the history of this wine farm along with the process that they utilize to make wine. We also had the opportunity to sample five different wines. The name of the wine farm is Blaauwklippen. This wine farm was established in 1690, has had seventeen different owners and is the second oldest wine farm in South Africa.

On our way back we passed through some other towns and took in all of the scenery around us. While we past by beautiful homes in both Stellenbosch and in Cape Town, we also saw shanty’s (shacks) along the way back to the ship. Many of these people are waiting for government housing. It was not clear to us how long they will weight for their permanent housing.

Tomorrow, we look forward to exploring Cape Town. In the morning those passenger’s who are not on the next segment of the cruise will leave the ship and in the afternoon new passenger’s will be joining the ship.

This evening we had a nice quiet dinner in Silk Road, the Japanese Specialty Restaurant. The service was delightful along with the wonderful food.

Keith & Anne Marie

En Route To Cape Town

Today we are at sea all day as we cruise towards Cape Town, South Africa. We are looking forward to reaching this port of call.

We woke fairly early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. After breakfast we worked out in the Fitness Center. We have really found that this routine works well for us so that we can get our exercise all done early in the day.

Today is the next to last full day of the third segment of the World Cruise. Passenger’s who will be disembarking the ship in Cape Town will enjoy a full day in Cape Town on Friday and then they will depart the ship on Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon, new passengers will be embarking the ship. We are fortunate to be able to continue to enjoy the ship as we continue on the Full World Cruise. The next segment of the cruise will have more passengers than this past segment. We believe there will be approximately 850 passengers on this next segment.

Later in the morning we attended a lecture given by Ambassador Bob Goodwin who discussed Presidential Humor – Kennedy through Bush.” The take-away from his lecture what that humor has become more important for those seeking the presidency and those who become President of the United States.

At Noon it was time to attend team trivia. Today’s game was the final game for this segment of the World Cruise. We did about average today and for this segment we finished in fifth place.

After Team Trivia we had lunch in the main dining room. We each had a nice salad entrée.

While there were various activities this afternoon we took it easy. The past couple of weeks we have been so very busy with so many activities from all of the world games that we participated in, attending a wide range of lectures, working out, visiting so many interesting ports of call, talking with so many interesting people from around the world, attending evening shows, reading books, and taking part in so many other activities. The experience has and continues to be outstanding.

Earlier this evening we attended the Captain’s Formal Farewell Reception. We arrived early and we talked with Captain Otto for about ten minutes. We had a great conversation with the Captain and we learned a great deal from him.

We have made it to all of these receptions and it provides a nice opportunity to talk with fellow passenger’s, talk with some member of the crew, enjoy some dancing and hear some nice music and also listen to the Captain.

After this reception we had a very nice dinner in the main dining room. The food was outstanding as it has been throughout the cruise.

Tomorrow morning we will arrive in Cape Town. We are looking forward to this port of call as we have heard so much about this city. We have a tour planned for tomorrow afternoon, and then will enjoy all day Sunday and part of Monday in Cape Town as well.

Keith & Anne Marie